A Race Against Time - Henry Martyn

A Race Against Time - Henry Martyn

Born in 1781 in Cornwall, England, Martyn had planned to study law, but while at Cambridge, Pastor Charles Simeon of Holy Trinity Church stirred Martyn's interest in the Far East with stories of William Carey's work in India. The shoe cobbler Carey had gone to India in 1792, and within ten years had established a strong gospel witness in the region of Bengal. Martyn was also deeply moved by reading the journals of David Brainerd, the Puritan missionary in North America who passionately labored among the Native Americans in the cause of Christ.

As if Every Friend was Dead
Sailing from England, Henry left family, friends, and Lydia, the woman who had captured his heart. He shed tears and thought of the roaring seas, which would soon be rolling between me and all that is dear to me on earth .... My feelings were those of a man who should suddenly be told, that every friend he had in the world was dead. It was only by prayer for them that I should be comforted; and this was indeed a refreshment to my soul, because by meeting them at the throne of grace, I seemed to be again in their society.

Henry Martyn ministered as a chaplain in India from 1800 to 1810, first in Dinapore, then in Cawnpore. During that time he translated the New Testament and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer into Hindustani. At his own expense he established numerous schools for the native population. He became an able preacher to the natives, though often under threats of personal violence. Martyn also translated the New Testament and Psalms into Persian. Persian was spoken at the Moslem courts in India and was the language of judicial proceedings under the British government in Hindostan. Understood from Calcutta to Damascus, it seemed that a quarter of the globe could then understand the Persian